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By Neptune Moon, December 7, 2011 10:14 am

Managing your online reputation can be challenging enough, but in the past week or so, emails alerting you to fake Better Business Bureau (BBB) complaints have begun circulating. If you receive one of these emails do not open it or respond to it. It is not the BBB’s practice to send complaint notices via email:

Better Business Bureau is issuing an urgent SCAM alert cautioning businesses and consumers about an email that is purporting to be from a bbb.org email address about a recently filed complaint. The email contains a dangerous attachment regarding a complaint and appears to direct recipients to the BBB website. This is a scam – BBB does not send complaints as attachments via email.

The email has a subject line of “BBB Complaint Activity Report” and looks like this:

BBB Scam Email Screenshot

It is important to monitor your online reputation and the real BBB still carries weight with consumers. To monitor your status with your local BBB, schedule regular visits to their site to view your listing and have a response plan ready should you find any negative reports.

When in doubt, if you receive an email that seems suspicious – I got two of these same emails this morning – do a quick Google search on the topic. I searched for “bbb email scam” and had a page full of results outlining this scam.

You can read the full BBB Scam Alert here.

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By Neptune Moon, September 20, 2011 9:46 am

So, obviously I know the importance of positive reviews on the web – especially for businesses that are consumer driven. I work with a number of clients to help them manage their online reputation, create positive buzz and address the inevitable negative rant that will appear online about them or their business. So, imagine my surprise when I recently wrote two stellar reviews for places I love on Yelp only to find that my reviews had been filtered and were not displaying in either business’ listing? What gives?

According to Yelp’s FAQ:

Does the filter only target positive reviews?

No. The software applies the same analysis to everyone. It sometimes affects more positive reviews simply because Yelp users write more positive reviews in the first place. In other cases, it affects positive reviews that appear to have been solicited by business owners (a practice which may seem like a good way to generate more reviews, but which tends to create an unintentional bias). In any event, the filter affects both positive and negative reviews — feel free to check out a random sampling of businesses listed on Yelp to see for yourself.

In my experience with Yelp, it does filter or remove positive reviews much more frequently than negative reviews. To me, this is nuts. Trust me, you do need to encourage people to take the time and go online to post positive reviews. Customers may rave about your business in person, but we’re all busy and very few people will take the time to go online and write up their positive experience. Contrast that with the speed and ease with which an angry customer (or non-customer!) can post a nasty rant about you or your business? An angry individual can post right from your place of business when armed with a smartphone. Talk about no filter! Their complaint doesn’t even have to be true to be posted.

So, why does Yelp penalize businesses who have customers who love them? I don’t get it. Should I not be truthful in my praise for a place I love? That seems nuts and like it would make their site less useful, not more. Congratulations Yelp, I won’t be posting any more reviews on your site for the businesses I want to promote. I will write my glowing reviews on Google Places instead. I also won’t be using your site to find reviews either.

You can read more about their Review Filter here.

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By Neptune Moon, May 11, 2011 9:30 am

Some really interesting data from a Lightspeed Research study on the role of search, social media and online reputation in purchasing decisions. The debate about how much direct influence social media channels like Facebook and Twitter have on actual consumer purchasing actions has been a topic of hot debate over the last year. While it can certainly be difficult to quantify the exact impact of your social media efforts as they relate to actual sales, this survey sheds some light on the role that different types of content play in our buying decisions…

A few highlights from Lightspeed’s survey about pre-purchase behaviors in the past 6 months:

• 62% of respondents said they read reviews online
• 49% have checked the sites of competing retailers, brands and service providers
• 49% saying they have checked price comparison sites
• 19% said they have read online reviews of bricks-and-mortar stores or online shops
• 27% had not conducted online pre-purchase research

Where are people seeking product and review information in their pre-purchase research:

• 64% via search engines
• 58% on shopping sites
• 54% on Consumer Reports web site
• 47% on company web sites
• 32% on specialist web sites, with reviews
• 21% shopping comparison sites
• 7% have sought product review information via social networks

And, if we didn’t already know that online reputation management has become a critical part of any business model – and especially for business to consumer companies:

• 21% of respondents said two bad reviews about a product or brand can lead them to change their minds about a potential purchase
• 37% saying their threshold is three bad reviews
• Only 3% don’t look for any kind of reviews

What does this mean for you and your business?

My two takeaways are that search still matters – two thirds of people still use search as a tool when doing pre-purchase research. The idea that SEO no longer matters, simply is not true today. Second, your online reputation has become a mission critical business priority.

If you have not started to address online reputation management, you need to at least start thinking about it. This data is a small sample (1500 people), but the behavior trends are quite stunning. Pretending that online reviews don’t matter is a recipe for disaster. You can take control of your online reputation – it just takes knowledge, a plan and time. You can’t afford to ignore it any more.

Need help? Get in touch, we’d be happy to help!

See the full Lightspeed Research survey results here.

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By Neptune Moon, April 20, 2011 3:08 pm

I had a great time talking with Carla Wilson and Mary Motz recently about Online Reputation Management. Thanks again for having me on your show. What an interesting conversation we had, both on and off the air. You can check out all of their podcasts at the Online Biz Insider site.

Here is the link to my guest appearance.

We talked about the basics of Online Reputation Management and what you can do to protect yourself and your business online.

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By Neptune Moon, March 31, 2011 10:43 am

Why can’t Google just stick to search? I would rather see Google invest their massive funds and brainpower making search better and better rather than trying to integrate social media into its results. With the announcement this week of its new +1 feature, Google is once again wading into the search and social waters.

What is +1 and how will it work? Essentially, +1 will function a lot like the “Like” feature on Facebook and external web sites that include Facebook’s “Like” buttons. The feature is being slowly rolled out, but eventually, we will all start seeing +1 impact our search results. Mashable has a great write up on how the feature will work:

“Google defines this action as a “public stamp of approval,” and it is exactly that. When you +1 something, your name becomes associated with that link “in search, on ads, and across the web,” according to the company. It also shows up in a feed on your Google Profile, which is required to use the product.”

You can read the full story at Mashable.

Google seems to really be trying to become a social hub and not just a search destination. I don’t know about you, but I really don’t want my search results junked up with sites people in my network “like”. I spend a lot of time online and search is a big part of what I do every day. Having to wade through this type of stuff will not improve my search experience. To use the service, you’ll need to have a Google account, be logged in and if you want to start adding your +1 endorsements to sites, you will need to complete your public Google Profile. So, there are some barriers to this becoming the de facto state of search. I have a Google account, but I do not have a Google Profile and I generally do not perform the majority of searches while logged in to Google.

Maybe I’m a little old fashioned, but I like my search to be search and my social media to be social. I wonder if we will start seeing less relevant results in search as marketers figure out ways to game this system by incentivizing +1 activity. Google has already been including more and more social content in its results sets – read more here.

Doing the amount of search I do for clients when working on competitive intelligence and SEO, I am very aware of what the results include. Sadly, the quality of results returned for the average search has not improved in the past 2 years. In fact, in many cases, the results returned on the first page of Google are pretty crappy. It has gotten a little better since their most recent two algorithm updates, but the nature of what you see on the first page for a lot of search terms is markedly different from the landscape of even 18 months ago. Is this a good or bad thing? Who knows. It is what it is and we’ll all be working to do our best for clients with whatever the current landscape and technology requires!

It certainly has implications for not only SEO strategy, but also for your social media and reputation management strategies.

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By Neptune Moon, March 28, 2011 4:08 pm

Just when you thought you had a handle on your online reputation, along comes the site AboutEveryone.com. Haven’t heard of it yet? I suspect in the very near future, you will.

What is this new site, you ask? Well, it allows people to post anything they want about you, based on your Facebook profile link – completely anonymously. Let me repeat that – anyone can post anything absolutely anonymously about you on this site and the link points back to your Facebook profile page. Even if you have your profile privacy settings set pretty high, most of us still allow “everyone” to see our name and profile picture. So, any nasty comments posted on this site will at a minimum link to your actual profile page and show your name and photo, so people will know it is about you.

The site is in beta now. According to AboutEveryone.com’s About page, don’t expect them to help when someone posts awful, damaging or untrue statements about you:

“AboutEveryone is not the author of the posts that appear on the site. Rather, AboutEveryone is the provider of an interactive computer service. As such, AboutEveryone is immune from liability arising from content posted by users. 
Operators of Internet services are not to be construed as publishers and thus not legally liable for the words of third parties who use their services. 

AboutEveryone is still in beta. You will have more opportunities to remove content [in] the future.”

Not sure what those opportunities to remove content will be in the future, but I sure hope they provide some mechanism where you can remove defamatory comments or I can see this site getting seriously out of control. The ramifications for your online reputation are potentially catastrophic. There are a few nice comments posted, but the majority are not.

See for yourself…

We will be keeping an eye on this as it develops.

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By Neptune Moon, March 8, 2011 2:19 pm

Have you Googled yourself or your organization lately? If you haven’t, you definitely should. Being aware of what’s out there is the first line of defense in the rapidly expanding world of online reputation management.

First, the good news…

You probably won’t find anything that is particularly problematic. But, the full list of just what is out there about you individually and your organization can be really eye opening! You should see certain results pop up, both for you and your company. For individuals, you should expect to see results such as:

• Your bio page on your organization’s web site
• Your LinkedIn Profile
• Your Google Profile
• Your Facebook Page (depending on your privacy settings)
• A personal blog, if you have one and blog under your actual name
• Other references to you on the web, including places where you might be listed as a member, volunteer, sponsor or board member
• Links to other social media sites you participate in (depending on your privacy settings)

For your organization, if you’ve done a good job with SEO, you should expect to see results such as:

• Your company’s web site
• Google Places page
• Local links in Bing or Yahoo
• Your company’s Facebook page
• Listings on directory or local search sites, such as Yelp, Insiderpages, Yellowpages.com, etc.
• Links to employee or board member LinkedIn Profiles
• Other references to your organization on the web, including places where your company might be listed as a member, sponsor or contributor

But, what else might be lurking out there?

Sometimes, the answer to that question can be a little horrifying. Surprise results can range from the relatively benign – links to another person with the same name, which can create confusion, to the downright panic-inducing – finding an entire blog or web site dedicated to excoriating you or your business – and everything in between.

It is a little disconcerting to think about, but pretending that the information isn’t out there, really is not a viable approach to protecting and managing your online reputation. It is a fairly regular occurrence to find severely outdated or incorrect information about you or your organization. It might surprise you to know that Google has very little interest in verifying the “truth” of content they index. It is important to realize that the truth according to Google, is for all intents and purposes, considered to be the truth, period.

So, what can you do?

Knowledge is power and the first step in starting to address any misinformation in Google results is knowing that it is out there. We suggest that clients make it a regular practice to Google themselves and their organizations at least once a quarter (or more frequently if you sell directly to the public) so you know what’s out there. These days, you have to assume that at least 75% of potential customers or employees will Google your company at some point in their decision-making process. You need to know what they will see so you can be prepared to discuss it and professionally correct any misinformation you’ve found.

Preventive maintenance when managing your online reputation is always a good idea. If you discover a major issue in your searching, it may be time to bring in a professional to help mitigate the damage and start the hard work of repairing your online reputation.

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By Neptune Moon, January 27, 2011 11:33 am

Facebook is in the news again this week with the announcement of its new “Sponsored Stories” ad product. This on the heels of the rollout and subsequent rollback of granting applications access to users’ home addresses and cell phone numbers. So, what is this latest “feature” and how might it impact you and your Facebook habits?

In a nutshell, this new feature would take various actions, such as Liking, posting a comment on a fan page or checking in and turn them into ads. The program is being piloted with a small set of advertisers, but Facebook has made it clear that this “service” will be available to any company in the future. What does this mean, in real terms, for you, the user? Say you’re at your local Starbucks and you check in. With this new feature, Starbucks could take your check in and create an ad that would appear in your friends feed, with your name and profile photo beside it. You don’t opt-in to this and you can’t opt-out. There are no parameters for how often a company could use your actions or for how long.

Facebook’s attitude seems to be that they are only highlighting information that you chose to share anyway. Which, in a way is true. But, they also fail to see the nuance here, as they seem to do so often when it comes to users’ data and posts. Me, taking an action, such as Liking a company has historically shown up on my profile page and in my friends’ news feeds as a single line – Julie Friedman Bacchini likes Company X, for example. I’m ok with that, I chose to Like Company X. By Liking them though, am I giving them  permission to use me in an ad for Company X as an endorser? I don’t think so, and at a minimum, I should have a choice about that usage of my name.

It will be interesting to see how this all plays out…

You can read more about this on:

• CNET
• CNN/Money
• Mashable (Editorial)
• AdAge
• Facebook (announcement video)

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By Neptune Moon, November 22, 2010 3:58 pm

If you pay close attention to Google – and most people probably don’t like I do – you may have noticed some changes in the way Google displays search results. The map has moved! It used to be in the main area of the page, right below the first three sponsored listings. Now, it is in the right column, above the column of paid listings and the locations on the map? They are now mixed in with the organic results in the main area of the page:

Google's new search results screenshot

What, if anything does this mean? It means different things to different users. For instance, for the average Google searcher, it probably doesn’t necessarily mean a whole lot. You’ll still see a combination of paid/sponsored results, Google Places results (the map) and organic results. But for businesses and marketers, the change in how Google displays results is more significant.

Google is clearly trying to make its Places more important by taking up more space on the first results page. By making each Places listing it’s own quasi-organic search result, Google’s Places listings now account for a lot more of the results on page one of a Google search. The many local/review sites have been taking over the first page of Google’s results for the past couple of years – Yelp, InsiderPages, MerchantCircle, DexKnows, YellowPages, etc. and it seems that Google really wants a piece of that action.

What should you do for your business? Making sure you have created and/or claimed your Google Places page is great place to start. As these results are served more often and as search becomes more local every day, you’ll want to make sure you’re listed. How will this impact traditional SEO – the jury’s still out. It is definitely a topic we will be monitoring in the coming months! Stay tuned…

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By Neptune Moon, October 18, 2010 3:09 pm

Not to pile it on Facebook – I know it has been a topic of a lot of my posts, but when news of privacy issues breaks, it just isn’t something I can ignore. Especially knowing how many people use Facebook and how few actually understand how it really works.

I’m not opposed to Facebook, in fact, I find it quite useful to keep up with friends and family who live in different time zones! But I do believe that I, and all users, should be in complete control of the information we decide to post on the site. I am of the belief that whatever you decide to post online, you should inherently understand that you have a lesser “expectation of privacy” (to borrow a Law & Order term!) than you would, say having a face to face conversation with someone. I think we all accept that in exchange for the connectivity these types of programs offer us.

But, when things are happening behind the scenes, without our knowledge or opt-in consent that shares or potentially compromises our information, that is where I think the line must be drawn.

So what’s this week’s issue? Apparently, many of the uber popular apps in Facebook have been capturing personally identifiable information or users and sometimes of their friends and storing it and/or providing it to third party companies. As usual, the Wall Street Journal has a fantastic article on the topic today:

“Apps” are pieces of software that let Facebook’s 500 million users play games or share common interests with one another. The Journal found that all of the 10 most popular apps on Facebook were transmitting users’ IDs to outside companies.

The apps, ranked by research company Inside Network Inc. (based on monthly users), include Zynga Game Network Inc.’s FarmVille, with 59 million users, and Texas HoldEm Poker and FrontierVille. Three of the top 10 apps, including FarmVille, also have been transmitting personal information about a user’s friends to outside companies.

Read the full article here.

To Facebook’s credit, they are taking this revelation very seriously and seem to be making moves to curtail the practice and disable apps that violate Facebook’s privacy terms. In the meantime, now, as always, be thoughtful about what you post online, even if you have your privacy settings set at the highest level. It is ultimately up to you to manage what is even available to a site like Facebook.